Mangaluru: Two teenage girls, their parents killed as compound wall collapses amid heavy rains

Mangaluru: Four members of a family died when the compound wall of a house collapsed on a neighbouring house at Kuthar Madani Nagara in Ullal police station limits on Wednesday morning.

The deceased have been as Yasir (45), his wife Mariamma (40) and their two daughters Raihana (19) and Rifaana (16) passed away in the incident. The compound wall belongs to Aboobakkar.

A large number of people gathered at the spot while bodies are being recovered from the debris.

The wall of the house collapsed in the bedroom where Yasir and his family were sleeping. Following the rain, a compound wall and two areca nut trees have fallen on Yasir's house.

Yasir was a worker in the fisheries harbour at Bunder, while his children - Rihana and Rifan - were students.

Yasir had purchased the house six years ago and had given the house for lease. He had shifted to the house only six months ago. In fact, a compound wall had collapsed on the house two years ago too, but no casualties were reported.

After a three-hour operation, all the four bodies were recovered from the debris with the help of local residents and personnel from fire and emergency services.

Yasir’s eldest daughter Rasheena is married and had returned to her husband’s house in Kerala on Tuesday, after celebrating Bakrid.

Meanwhile, Dakshina Kannada has been experiencing bountiful showers since Tuesday night.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert in the district till June 27. According to the forecast, a wet spell is likely to continue over Coastal Karnataka and adjoining parts of Malnad and interior Karnataka districts with widespread light to moderate rains.

Heavy to very heavy rains may also occur at isolated areas until June 27.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned against a wider conflict in West Asia after Israeli officials threatened to launch an invasion of Lebanon.

Speaking to reporters in New York, the UN chief said the risk for the conflict in the region to widen is real, citing an escalation in the daily exchange of fire and the war of words between the regime and the resistance movement. 

"I felt compelled today to voice my profound concerns about the escalation between Israel and Hezbollah along the Blue Line. Escalation in continued exchanges of fire. And escalation in bellicose rhetoric from both sides as if an all-out war was imminent. The risk of the conflict in the Middle East to widen is real -- and must be avoided. One rash move – one miscalculation -- could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination,” he said.

The top UN diplomat said the people of the region and the world cannot “afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”

"The parties must urgently recommit to the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities. Civilians must be protected. Children, journalists and medical workers should never be targeted, and displaced communities must be able to return to their homes. The world must say loudly and clearly, that immediate de-escalation is not only possible, it is essential. There is no military solution."

The UN chief said the UN peacekeepers are working to calm the situation and prevent miscalculation.

"For our part, the United Nations is actively engaging to promote peace, security and stability in line with Security Council Resolution 1701. UN peacekeepers, usually fields, are on the ground, working to de-escalate tensions, and they'll prevent miscalculations. In an extremely challenging environment."

Hezbollah started the ongoing round of anti-Israel operations on October 8, a day after the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war on Gaza vowing to eliminate resistance factions there.

Hezbollah says its operations are meant to support the Gaza resistance and to put pressure on the regime to stop the genocide in Gaza, which has so far left over 35,000 Gazans dead, most of them women and children.

The exchange of fire has intensified following the Israeli assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Sami Taleb Abdallah last week.

The movement has retaliated by firing hundreds of rockets into the northern parts of the occupied territories.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had approved plans for an attack on Lebanon, raising concerns that the regime might carry out threats that it will turn Lebanon into another Gaza.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed that "no place" in the Israeli-occupied territories would "be spared our rockets" if a wider war began.

Nasrallah emphasized that an incursion into the Galilee region remains an option on the table should Israel invade southern Lebanon.

He also said they would attack any other country in the region that assisted Israel in the war effort, citing Cyprus, which has hosted Israeli forces for training exercises.

A 40-year-old expatriate from Karnataka’s Mangaluru had a lucky escape to survive even as a huge fire engulfed an apartment complex in Kuwait, killing over 49 people. 

Praison Roby Peter, who was working as an administrator in a private company for the last seven years, was asleep when the fire started.

“He was on the fourth floor. Fire started from the ground floor when they were asleep at 4 am. Suddenly, the smoke spread to the upper floors. To escape from smoke he jumped from the fourth floor and hence was injured,” said Joy Mathew from the Kuwait Pentecostal Mission Church.

Mathew is working closely with Indians who were injured in the Kuwait tragedy.

Kannadiga among victims

One person from Aland Taluk from Kalaburagi is one among the 45 Indians who lost their life in the Kuwait fire tragedy. 

The deceased has been identified as Vijay Kumar Prasanna (43) and his body is expected to reach Kalaburagi tomorrow. “We are coordinating with the Kochi Airport authorities. Once all the bodies arrive in Kochi, the body of the deceased will be transported to Hyderabad via flight on Friday night. From Hyderabad, the body will be moved to his native village in Aland using a district ambulance. We are hoping that the body will reach the family by early morning on Saturday,” a senior official from the Kalaburagi district administration said.

According to sources in Kalaburagi district administration, Prasanna was working as a driver in a private company in Kuwait for the last ten years. He is survived by his wife and three children, sources revealed. Prasanna is one of the deceased in the Kuwait apartment blaze that killed close to 45 Indians on Wednesday.